Financial Analysis: Smartstop Self Storage REIT (SMA) vs. Its Competitors

Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA) is one of 110 publicly-traded companies in the “REIT – EQTY TRUST – OTHER” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Smartstop Self Storage REIT to related businesses based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Smartstop Self Storage REIT and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	3	1	5	2	2.55
Smartstop Self Storage REIT Competitors	2411	8124	8498	305	2.35

Smartstop Self Storage REIT currently has a consensus target price of $36.94, indicating a potential upside of 13.42%. As a group, “REIT – EQTY TRUST – OTHER” companies have a potential upside of 4.85%. Given Smartstop Self Storage REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Smartstop Self Storage REIT is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Smartstop Self Storage REIT and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	4.38%	1.00%	0.54%
Smartstop Self Storage REIT Competitors	1.17%	1.59%	0.90%

Dividends

Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Smartstop Self Storage REIT pays out 1,086.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “REIT – EQTY TRUST – OTHER” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.4% and pay out 252.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smartstop Self Storage REIT and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smartstop Self Storage REIT	$294.00 million	-$1.55 million	217.16
Smartstop Self Storage REIT Competitors	$1.58 billion	$214.07 million	2.78

Smartstop Self Storage REIT’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Smartstop Self Storage REIT. Smartstop Self Storage REIT is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.0% of shares of all “REIT – EQTY TRUST – OTHER” companies are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of shares of all “REIT – EQTY TRUST – OTHER” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Smartstop Self Storage REIT Company Profile

Symmetry Medical Inc. (Symmetry) is a medical device solutions company, including surgical instruments, orthopedic implants, and sterilization cases and trays. The Company designs, develops and offers worldwide production and supply chain capabilities for these products to customers in the orthopedic industry, and other medical device markets (including but not limited to arthroscopy, dental, laparoscopy, osteobiologic, and endoscopy segments). It also manufactures specialized non-healthcare products, primarily in the aerospace industry. The Company operates in two segments: original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions and symmetry surgical. On August 15, 2011, the Company acquired PSC Industries, Inc’s Olsen Medical division. On December 29, 2011 it acquired the surgical instruments product portfolio from Codman & Shurtleff, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson Company.